GOH Alan Lee Will Not Attend WFC 2013

The 2013 WFC convention committee announced that artist guest of honor, Alan Lee, would not be in attendance at this year’s World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, England.  Lee’s absence is due to his work on the second Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug.  The convention committee included the following statement from Lee:

“Now that the picture [is] here, and our schedule for delivering it, has become clearer, it is going to be impossible to get back to the UK for the convention… I’m so sorry to let you and the other participants down at this stage, and sorry that I’ll miss seeing my friends who will be there.  I wish you and all the other guests and attendees an exciting and brilliant convention.”

This latest guest of honor misfortune follows on the heels of WFC 2013’s selected Master of Ceremonies, China Miéville, also canceling his attendance plans due to “circumstances completely beyond [his] control.”  Miéville also sincerely apologized for his absence, and noted that he “will be putting together a small gesture of apology for all WFC attendees.”